Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Behavior

The emotional weight of I love you in multilinguals’ languages

“…Barron, 2003;Garces-Conejos Blitvich, 2006;Kasper andRose, 2001, 2002), probably because it encompasses all the crucial aspects of pragmatic research without linking it to a particular paradigm in the field. Interestingly, the first part of the definition ''the study of language from the point of view of users'' seems to suggest that the epistemological stance in pragmatics research is the emic perspective, where the researcher aims at describing participants' behavior in terms meaningful (consciously or unconsciously) to them and where participants' voice and opinions are heard (Pike, 1967). However, most pragmatic research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is based on the etic perspective, i.e.…”

“…However, most pragmatic research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is based on the etic perspective, i.e. a description of a behavior according to the researcher's point of view (Pike, 1967). In other words, L2 learners or L2 users produce language samples that are clinically analyzed by the researcher and typically labeled according to their perceived degree of appropriateness in a given context.…”

Multilingual Clients’ Experience of Psychotherapy

“…However, very little research to date seems to have incorporated the voice and adopted the perspective of the multilingual clients (see however Espin, 2013). Such an emic approach allows researchers to explore participants' perspective, their interpretation of behaviour, events and situation using their own language (Pike, 1964).…”

Unique as well as universal—complexities of comparative ageing research

“…Some authors of the cultural position argue that in order to understand and then to intellectually reXect the dimensions of culture it is necessary to be deeply embedded in the norms, habits, and language of a given culture (Pike 1967). The emic perspective is the view of the "normal" member of a given culture.…”

“…Already Pike (1967) stated (referring to the analyses of languages) that only native speakers are competent judges of emic descriptions, while investigators from the outside apply scientiWc methods in the analysis of a culture, producing etic descriptions which are falsiWable and reproducible. When constructing a "universal standard of comparisons" from an etic perspective, it is necessary to consult the emic perspective in order to understand what this standard of comparison means in a speciWc culture.…”